PEORIA — Day two of Nathan Leuthold’s murder trial began and ended with the same handwritten note, written by his slain wife, in which she accused of him of wanting her dead and being unfaithful.

The note, found in a day planner in the couple’s bedroom, blasts Nathan Leuthold, 39, for “running around with a 20-year-old” and humiliating her. An FBI handwriting expert testified the note was written by Denise Leuthold, who was found dead on Feb. 14, 2013, shot once in the head at their home, 700 W. Mossville Road.

In the note, which is nearly two sides of a single notebook-sized piece of paper, Denise Leuthold fires salvo after salvo at her husband, saying he thought she was a bad mother to their three children and didn’t love her after 17 years of marriage.

“I really don’t think there is anything I have done or not done to deserve this. I have never been good enough or done enough for you … I know you want me dead. I am not stupid, but I am not that brave.

“I quit, I will not please you anymore. No more of that game,” the note said. “If I haven’t pleased you in 17 years then nothing I will do will do it.”

Nathan Leuthold faces a single count of murder in connection with his wife’s death. Prosecutors claim he staged a break-in to cover up the slaying, which they say was motivated by an alleged affair with a 20-year-old Lithuanian woman the couple sponsored to study in the United States.

A Peoria police officer, Richard Linthicum, told jurors he was called to the house shortly after 3 p.m. that Valentine’s Day after Nathan Leuthold reported a burglary.

The Far North Peoria man stood across the street while the officer searched his house.

Nathan Leuthold didn’t ask a question even after Linthicum, having found the woman’s body, came out of the house, got a bulletproof shield out of his car and waited for backup with his gun drawn.

Linthicum also testified he thought what he found inside didn’t fit the pattern of a burglary, noting electronics in the family room weren’t missing and kitchen drawers were placed, not dumped, on the floor.

On cross examination, defense attorney Hugh Toner asked several questions of the officer, attempting to show Nathan Leuthold was sitting back and allowing the police to do their job.

A crime scene technician later testified the home didn’t show much sign that a struggle had taken place there other than a few items in disarray. A bi-fold door was off its hinges near where police found 39-year-old Denise Leuthold. Her glasses were a few feet away.

Her coat was only half on and a bullet was found tangled in her hair, as were keys. As Officer Scott Bowers was testifying, pictures of the woman lying in the hallway were shown on a large screen. Nathan Leuthold sat and stared at the pictures without emotion. He occasionally wrote in his yellow legal pad.

Bowers took the jury through the one-story ranch home. Many items in the home, including the kitchen table, the family room and at least two large jars of change, were left undisturbed. In the couple’s bedroom was Denise Leuthold’s purse, which had a $50 bill and $20 bill inside.

Near a closet was a black sweatshirt that prosecutors believe had gunshot residue on it as well as an ammunition box. Toner noted the purse was partially hidden in the desk. He got Bowers to state there was a muddy shoe print by the back door where glass was broken out just above the knob.

That, he likely will contend later in the trial, supports his client’s assertion that someone else came into the house and killed his wife. Denise Leuthold was shot with a .40-caliber Glock handgun. Nathan Leuthold allegedly owned a similar weapon, which was missing. Prosecutors have inferred it was his weapon that killed Denise Leuthold and allege he searched the Internet for information on how to silence a .40-caliber Glock.

A neighbor testified she saw a “scruffy” Nathan Leuthold walking toward his home about 12:20 p.m. the day of the crime and away from Robinson Park, where Denise Leuthold’s car was found.

Diane Parrish, who lives about a block from the Leutholds’ home, told jurors she remembered him because she thought it odd a person would be walking on the road at that time.

Nathan Leuthold, she said, was “scruffy,” and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. Parrish told her husband to slow down so she could get a good look at the man. The couple was worried the man, whom they didn’t know at the time, might burglarize their home as he had seen them leaving.

Later, after police swarmed the area, she called police and eventually picked Nathan Leuthold out of a photo lineup as the man she saw that day.

The trial is expected to continue for the rest of the week. If convicted, Nathan Leuthold faces at least 45 years in prison.

Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz for live courtroom updates.